Docking systems for liquid carrying lines typically have a self-closing end valve including a ball, for example, or a membrane or the like, that automatically closes when the line end is undocked from the docking interface to which it is connected.
Such docking systems are only conditionally suited for the field of fiber-composite component production, however, since self-closing end valves of this kind have the tendency to stick due to the resins used in the manufacture of fiber composite components. Thus, a method for manufacturing fiber composite components provides for layering individual sheets of fibrous material, nonwoven fabric or woven fabric into a mold, to which a resin is applied once the individual fiber layers have been introduced, in order to join and interconnect the individual fiber layers. In this context, the resin is supplied from a reservoir via a line to the mold and injected into the same under pressure.
In as much as a liquid is concerned in the context of the present invention, subsumed thereunder are reactive liquids, which, in the field of composite component production, are used for joining individual fibrous layers. These include synthetic resins in particular, which cure under the action of temperature. In particular, these are synthetic resins, such as hydrocarbon, urea, alkyd, epoxide, melamine, phenolic, polyester, unsaturated polyester, polyurethane, ketone, coumaron-indene, isocyanate, polyamide and terpene-phenolic resins, for example. Moreover, in the context of the present invention, the previously discussed molds, into which the individual fiber layers can be introduced in order to be joined together, as well as the reservoirs in which the liquids are stored, are termed docking bodies.
Due to the difficulty discussed above, whereby the aforementioned self-closing end valves used in the field of fiber composite component production have a tendency to stick because of the adhesive action of the liquids used, another problem associated with the known docking systems is that, when a liquid carrying line is undocked from a docking body, certain residual quantities of liquid typically continue to flow, causing the docking interface on the docking body to be contaminated or soiled, resulting in increasing leakage problems from one docking operation to another. Moreover, due to inevitable tolerances, over a plurality of docking operations, dirt unavoidably accumulates along the sealing surfaces of the docking system in the region of the docking interface, which ultimately can lead to failure of the sealing means of the docking system.
Due to the problems described here, known methods have so far been unable to successfully provide a partially automated docking system, which is why, until now, the connection between the docking body and the liquid carrying line is typically produced manually by clamping a tube onto a hose connector on the docking body, using a hose clamp.